The Golden Age of Print

Over the past few years, online marketing has taken the world by storm, so much so, we have constantly heard the phrase “print is dead”! A lot of focus was given to channels such as social media and email marketing, which was certainly advantageous, instant and available 24/7. But, now, in 2018, and the GDPR regulations that are in place, businesses are going to have to look at the way they do things, and its back to the good old days of print!

How many letters do you receive on a day to day basis? – when I say letters, I don’t mean the scary brown envelopes from HMRC or invoices, I mean exciting direct mail, from businesses promoting something that you are interested in, whether that be on a personal or business level. I am pretty sure the answer will be, not many. Why? Because it is seen as an “old fashioned” way of marketing. Well in our opinion (and that of our clients) is that it’s up and coming again. Of course, you can follow suit and do the same thing as your competitors, or you can be laser focused on what you want to say, say it to a relevant audience, and hit them with your brand in all its glory – in the form of print.

We’re not saying that digital marketing doesn’t have its place, but this should be done in addition to print. Print gives people the chance to switch off from technology and discover your brand through a different medium. Fewer companies using print also means there’s less to read or look at, giving your brand more of a chance to grab consumers’ attention and with fewer comparisons. Plus, if your print is a good quality, it will stay on the desk of the receiver and catch their eye for far longer than an email will, you never know, if its punchy enough they may even pass it around the office. BINGO!

Print engages far more senses than digital media! The more senses you can engage, the greater the impact you will have on consumers.

Holding physical print in your hands, whether it is a book, poster, brochure, wedding invitation, business card or a letter, awakens your senses. You feel the quality of the materials before you and the subtle ‘fresh print’ smell helps to feed your imagination. Truly exquisite print grabs attention in a way that digital media can only dream of and while digital media has grown over recent years, it will never offer the emotive delight, nor the longevity of print.

With the use of Personalisation there is the flexibility to personalise each printed page with text and images – making it a very powerful marketing tool. In a lot of cases, when people think of print they think of the same thing printed hundreds of times, well that isn’t the case anymore, For example, letters can be printed with a different name and address on each letter without stopping or slowing down the press, which means it is cost effective, it can also be enveloped, addressed, stamped and posted, all off site – so you’re not using your workforce for the mundane jobs.

According to our source: ROI360, Direct Mail continues to out perform Email in terms of customer/consumer reaction: